First it was Trudeau, now it is Trump – Lockheed Martin has its hands full on the F-35 front

From one fire to another. Lockheed Martin is trying to figure out how to proceed with the Canadian market after the Trudeau government dropped the bombshell yesterday about the Super Hornet interim purchase.

In the meantime, company officials are dealing with another potential issue on the horizon.

Lockheed Martin officials hope to educate President-elect Donald Trump on the value of the F-35 stealth fighter jet and correct some of the misconceptions he has about the aircraft.

Last year Donald Trump, then just one of a number of Republican presidential candidates, questioned whether the U.S. government should continue with its purchase of the F-35.

“When they say that this cannot perform as well as the planes we already have, what are [we] doing, and spending so much more money?” Trump said in an October 2015 appearance on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. “I do hear that it’s not very good,” he said. “I’m hearing that our existing planes are better. And one of the pilots came out of the plane, one of the test pilots, and said this isn’t as good as what we already have.”

“Test pilots are amazing people. They know better than anybody,” he added. “They’re saying it doesn’t perform as well as our existing equipment, which is much less expensive. So when I hear that, immediately I say we have to do something, because you know, they’re spending billions. This is a plane. There’s never been anything like it in terms of cost.”

Lockheed Martin officials have already meet with Trump’s transition team to give them details about the F-35.

“With the election now complete, we are working with President-elect Trump’s transition team.,” Orlando Carvalho, Lockheed’s executive vice president for aeronautics, told the Star-Telegramnewspaper in Fort Worth, Texas.

“We believe that in working with his transition team all the right information will get communicated and they’ll make the right decisions.”

The F-35 has been criticized because of its pricetag, which varies depending on the source used. Lockheed Martin hopes to get the cost of the F-35 down to $80 million to $85 million U.S.

So should Lockheed Martin worry now that Trump is president-elect? Defence Watch answered that question earlier by point out it’s unlikely Trump will do anything about the F-35. There is Republican support for the aircraft. There are too many U.S. jobs tied to the program and that alone gives it protection.